Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu (Pont-Croix)

At a glance

• Name: “(Pont-Croix)” is a Camino Ninja name; the association’s guide calls the route the variant “au départ de Pont-Croix”
• Start / finish: Pont-Croix, Collégiale Notre-Dame de Roscudon (Finistère) / Elliant (Finistère)
• Length: 81.5 km
• Duration: 3 stages, or 4 days if you prefer
• Elevation: ↗ 888 m / ↘ 816 m — rolling, no mountains
• Highest point: 137 m at km 77.7, between Kerdévot and Elliant; lowest point 2 m
• Landscape: Goyen valley and the Cap Sizun hinterland, Bay of Douarnenez, Voie verte on the old railway line, Steir and Odet valleys, hedged farmland of the Cornouaille
• Waymarking: yellow and blue on non-GR sections; on GR stretches the shell in addition to the GR markings
• Traces of St James: St James statue “en majesté” in Pont-Croix, St James figure on the calvary at Confort, Église Saint-Jacques in Pouldavid (14th/15th century)
• Accommodation: almost only Accueils jacquaires and Chambres d’hôtes, plus the Gîte municipal Les Plomarc’h in Douarnenez; book at least 48 hours ahead, credencial required
• Connection: in Elliant onto the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu (at its km 151.6), onwards to Clisson
• Best time: April to June, September to early October

Overview

Pont-Croix is one of the eight places where the Association bretonne has set a “kilomètre zéro”, and the guide sends you off from there with a lovely instruction: “Départ de la Collégiale de PONT-CROIX dos à la borne jacquaire” — with your back to the St James waymark stone. Ahead of you lie 81.5 kilometres and three very different days. On the first you walk through the hinterland of Cap Sizun to the Bay of Douarnenez, on the second along a disused railway line through the interior to Quimper, on the third through the Odet valley and past the chapel of Kerdévot to Elliant. There you change onto the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu.

The variant is the way in for anyone who wants to walk the south of Brittany but doesn’t have six days for the route from the cape to Elliant: start at the Pointe Saint-Mathieu and it is 151.6 kilometres to Elliant; from Pont-Croix it is 81.5. And it has what the main line lacks — a harbour named after St James, and a cathedral whose spires were copied from Pont-Croix. On the morning of the first day you set off from the original, and on the evening of the second you arrive at the copy.

Ideal for – and less so for

Ideal if you have three or four days and still want to walk a proper Camino, with a start, a stamp and an onward connection. Also ideal as the way into the long route to Clisson, close to Quimper’s TGV station.

To be honest, though, it’s not for you if you expect hostels with dormitories and doors that open without a booking. Apart from the Gîte municipal in Douarnenez, you sleep almost exclusively with private Accueils jacquaires and in Chambres d’hôtes, some only outside the summer holidays, and if you don’t call 48 hours ahead you’ll find closed doors in the evening. Nor is it for people who like to shop along the way: between Douarnenez and Quimper, according to the guide, there is nothing, “pas de possibilité entre Douarnenez et Quimper”.

Route & landscape

From the Collégiale in Pont-Croix you walk via Larin and Mahalon — the only place on the first day with all the shops — to Meilars and Confort-Meilars. Our line takes the route via Meilars, which according to the guide saves 4 kilometres. Through hamlets and past the chapel of Kérinec near Poullan-sur-Mer you reach Pouldavid and the Port-Rhu of Douarnenez. The stage ends at the gîte in Les Plomarc’h above the bay.

“Avec cette seconde étape, on quitte la mer par le sentier des Plomarc’h”, writes the guide, and then it’s inland: long and flat on the bed of the Quimper–Douarnenez railway, which closed in 1988 and is now a Voie verte, past Le Juch, then hillier down into the Steir valley to Quimper. On the third day you leave the city up the Odet valley, past the rocks of the Stangala, via Tréouzon and Sulvintin to the chapel of Kerdévot and through hedged farmland to Elliant. You only reach the highest point, 137 metres, shortly before the finish at kilometre 77.7.

Stages, terrain & difficulty

Three stages; the kilometres come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 81.5 km, with km 0 at the Collégiale. The first two figures match the distance table in the association’s guide to the tenth (27.1 and 25.6 km); for the third stage the guide gives 26.9 kilometres, while our line measures almost two more to Elliant. Nothing is technically difficult; the 888 metres of ascent are spread over gentle undulations, not climbs.

1. Pont-Croix → Douarnenez (Les Plomarc'h) (27.1 km) — Mahalon, Meilars, Confort with its bell wheel and calvary, Kérinec, Pouldavid, Port-Rhu; finish at the Gîte municipal.
2. Douarnenez → Quimper (25.6 km) — Voie verte via Le Juch, then down the Steir valley to the cathedral; no shops along the way.
3. Quimper → Elliant (28.8 km) — Odet valley and Stangala, Kerdévot with its Flemish altarpiece, highest point at km 77.7.

If you want to walk it in four days, split the second or third day: between Douarnenez and Quimper, Accueils jacquaires in Guengat and Plogonnec pick pilgrims up from the route, and on the third day there is an address in Lestonan near Ergué-Gabéric, three kilometres beyond the car park at the Stangala.

The tower of Pont-Croix stands twice along the way

The Collégiale Notre-Dame de Roscudon was founded in the 13th century by the lords of Pont-Croix; its tower is 67 metres high, the porch dates from the 14th century, and its style was so influential that the architect Charles Chaussepied coined the term “école de Pont-Croix” specifically for it. Just how influential, you see at the end of the second day: when Quimper finally got spires for its Cathédrale Saint-Corentin, begun in 1239, between 1854 and 1856, the architect Joseph Bigot took the spire of Roscudon as his model. You walk from the original to the copy.

In between lies Pouldavid, and this is where things turn Jacobean. The village was under the patronage of St James, its church of Saint-Jacques dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, and the altarpiece of 1696 was carved by Grégoire Ansquer — a master from Pont-Croix. In the late Middle Ages Pouldavid was a trading port whose ships are recorded as “poldavys” in Sandwich (1421) and Bruges (1468). Whether pilgrims to Galicia also embarked here is not documented, but it seems likely; the association’s magazine Ar Jakez puts it with due caution: “Durant plusieurs siècles, ce port a donc pu être un port d'embarquement vers Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle.” Could have been. We claim no more than that.

Finally, on the third day you walk a legend in its own direction. According to tradition, a miller brought the plague from Quimper to Elliant; the Virgin stood in its way at a stream on the border with Ergué-Gabéric, and Kerdévot was built in thanks. Elliant itself, as the gwerz in the Barzaz Breiz tells it, was hit hard by the epidemic — exactly when, nobody knows, probably in the 15th century. So you walk the same path as the plague, from Quimper via Kerdévot to Elliant. Only with better intentions, and with a stamp.

Highlights along the way

• Collégiale Notre-Dame de Roscudon, Pont-Croix — founded in the 13th century, tower 67 m, porch 14th century, namesake of the “école de Pont-Croix”; a St James statue “en majesté” that the guide singles out.
• Notre-Dame-de-Confort — built from 1528 to 1544 by Alain III de Rosmadec; above the choir a wooden wheel with twelve little bells that, according to tradition, gives mute children back their speech; in front of it the calvary with the apostles. The guide: “la statue de Saint-Jacques nous indique la direction”.
• Chapelle de Kérinec, Poullan-sur-Mer — built over a spring, with a pulpit calvary, a 15th-century fountain and a former 16th-century hospital.
• Église Saint-Jacques, Pouldavid — 14th/15th century, altarpiece of 1696, sixteen ceiling paintings of the Passion and Resurrection, listed since 1935; several St James figures.
• Douarnenez — Port-Rhu with the Port-musée, the tidal island Île Tristan, the fishing village of Les Plomarc’h with Roman garum tanks; around 1900 almost 3,000 people worked in 26 sardine factories.
• Notre-Dame du Juch — church of the 16th to 18th centuries, tower of 1730, Monument historique since 1916.
• Cathédrale Saint-Corentin, Quimper — begun in 1239, choir angled by around ten degrees, spires 1854–1856 modelled on Pont-Croix.
• Chapelle Notre-Dame de Kerdévot, Ergué-Gabéric — choir window 1489, enclos a Monument historique since 1914; altarpiece from Antwerp workshops (1480–1490), eleven figures stolen in 1973, some recovered in 1974.

How pilgrims reach this route

Not on foot — Pont-Croix is a beginning, not a junction. On our map no route leads here, and the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu runs a good 30 kilometres further east via Châteaulin and Briec. So you travel here, most easily via Quimper, and start at the church square. If you’re coming from the south coast, take the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu (Lorient), which joins at Hennebont.

Walking on?

The variant ends in Elliant where the main line completes a stage: you are standing at kilometre 151.6 of the Voie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu and walk on the next morning to Bannalec, then via Quimperlé, Hennebont, Vannes, Redon and Nantes another 377.6 kilometres to Clisson. There the Chemin Vendéen takes over as far as Saint-Jean-d'Angély, where you stand on the Via Turonensis, which brings you to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and onto the Camino Francés. In Elliant the rule is: “Si l'église est fermée, s'adresser au bazar : clé et tampon”.

Preparation & practicalities

The best times are April to June and September to early October; in July and August several hosts in Pont-Croix and Quimper take a break. Download the association’s free guide as a PDF (edition of 14 April 2024, updated every November), plus the separate accommodation list “Pont-Croix – Elliant” from the association’s website. The association’s rule: book at least 48 hours ahead, show your credencial, “participation aux frais”. The list names private hosts in Pont-Croix, Poullan-sur-Mer, Douarnenez, Kerlaz, Plogonnec, Guengat, Quimper and Lestonan, plus the Gîte municipal Les Plomarc’h (self-catering kitchen, arrival by 7 pm) and a camping meadow with the sisters in Pouldavid. In Douarnenez, buy supplies for the whole of the next day. The association gives the credencial free to members during the office hours of its local branches, and by post only to members outside historic Brittany — so it’s best to bring one from home. The easiest way to plan stages and hosts is in the Camino Ninja app.

What the route costs you

You pay in euros, and at the Accueils jacquaires with a voluntary contribution — the accommodation list gives no fixed prices, so give what a night with breakfast is worth. The camping meadow in Pouldavid costs nothing for one night. Guide prices (as of October 2026): Chambre d’hôtes €60–85 for a double room, hotel in Quimper or Douarnenez €70–110, restaurant set menu €15–24, galette and cider €10–15. Realistically, expect €35–55 a day with Accueils and self-catering, €75–100 with Chambres d’hôtes and restaurants; so roughly €110–300 for three days, excluding travel.

Getting there

To get to the start in Pont-Croix, take the TGV to Quimper and from there the BreizhGo bus into Cap Sizun (line 953 Quimper – Audierne – Pointe du Raz; check the stop and frequency in Pont-Croix beforehand on Mobibreizh), or from Douarnenez line 952. From Elliant, BreizhGo line 946 takes around 35 minutes back to Quimper, about four times a day according to timetable portals — or you simply walk on towards Bannalec.

• Rail France: sncf-connect.com — TGV Paris Montparnasse – Quimper, TER in Brittany
• Regional buses Brittany: breizhgo.bzh — lines 953 (Quimper – Audierne), 952 (Douarnenez – Audierne), 946 (Quimper – Elliant)
• Association and guide: compostelle-bretagne.fr — guide as PDF, accommodation list “Pont-Croix – Elliant”, credencial